Resources: Especially for Parents
Stanford Teaching and Learning Study
A team of researchers at Stanford University, directed by Dr. Jo Boaler, is conducting a research study on the mathematics teaching and learning in different curricula approaches, including IMP. The following extracts come from their first published report of the study.
Introduction
The study is based in three high schools, including Greendale (pseudonym) High School. Greendale offers students (and parents) a choice between the Interactive Mathematics Program (IMP) and the traditional algebra-geometry sequence….
Results & Analyses Algebra Achievement
When the students started their different approaches there were no significant differences between the achievement of students choosing to take Algebra 1 or IMP 1. In the algebra test administered to all the students one year later, there were again no significant differences in achievement…. The similarity in achievement of the students was a particularly positive result for the IMP students, who spent the year learning about algebra, geometry, probability, and data handling, but performed as well on a test of algebra as students who had learned algebra all year….
Students’ Attitudes Towards and Interest in Mathematics
Despite the similarity in achievement of students taught in different approaches, our research indicates that some important differences in mathematical beliefs and attitudes are developing among the students. Students’ attitudes towards mathematics are extremely important—they play a large part in determining students’ motivation towards lessons, and their subsequent achievement, as well as influencing the number of courses they take in mathematics, and their ultimate relationships with a subject that they will continue to use throughout their lives….
These differences suggest that the contrasting curricula are having an effect upon students’ interest, and it will be important to monitor these differences as students continue with their different approaches….
Percentages of students agreeing that
“math is really useful in life outside school”
Summary
The early stages of our research suggest that there is a large degree of overlap between the test achievement of students in the different curricula approaches, but also that the different programs are producing differences in attitude and interest towards mathematics and approaches to learning and using mathematics. These differences are important and they are likely to affect the students’ subsequent learning of mathematics. We will continue to monitor these as we follow students through high school….
The full version of this report, and further details of the study, are available on Professor Boaler’s Web site: http://www.stanford.edu/~joboaler.
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